Everything that women's work encompasses today, we owe to the women of the past.
One hundred years ago, American women were proving that "women's work" happens outside of the home, too. During World War I, women made strides into the workforce showing that "the weaker sex" did just as well in traditionally masculine arenas like munitions factories, construction and farming. Women continued to contribute to the economy in their jobs at garment factories, mills, telephone switchboards and offices even after the war effort ended.
As Women's History Month draws to a close, here are 19 incredible photos of women at work -- a century ago.
1
Lewis W. Hine/Buyenlarge/Getty Images
A young woman works as a warper on a power loom at the King Philip Mills, Fall River, Massachusetts, 1916.
2
Underwood Archives/Getty Images
Women workers in a garment factory, Vermont, circa 1915.
3
Cincinnati Museum Center/Getty Images
A group of women focus their attention on their work while employed by the Gibson Art Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, ca.1910s.
Advertisement
4
J. R. Schmidt/Paul Thompson/FPG/Getty Images
Women operate the new stretching machine for surgical dressing at the Red Cross headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, circa 1915. The machine, which was invented by Milton Griffith, can stretch 28 bolts of gauze in one day.
5
Paul Thompson/FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
A group of chorus girls at the annual charity reception and dance held by the Ladies' Auxiliary of St Vincent's Hospital at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, circa 1915. From left to right, Priscilla Mitchell, Dorothy Adrian, Temploe Joyner, Dorothy Kane, Dorothy Scully, Kathleen Kevin, Mary Lembeck, Helen McManus and Ruth Thompson.
6
FPG/Getty Images
A woman working in a munitions factory during World War One, aiding the war effort whilst the men are away, USA, circa 1914-1918.
Advertisement
7
Lewis W. Hine/Buyenlarge/Getty Images
A young woman works as a harness maker at the American Linen Company, in Fall River, MA, 1916.
8
Lewis W. Hine/Buyenlarge/Getty Images
A thirteen-year-old girl (identified only as Mary) works with her aunt as they make flowers in a tenement room, New York, New York, 1911.
9
PhotoQuest/Getty Images
View of women factory workers seated at their work stations while operating machines to polish lenses, during the early twentieth century.
Advertisement
10
MPI/Getty Images
29th May 1919: Women rivet heaters and passers on ship construction work in the Navy Yard at Puget Sound, Seattle, Washington.
11
Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Female American college students working on a farm, as replacements for men called up to the military in World War I, USA, May 1918.
12
PhotoQuest/Getty Images
Women of the Sarah Caswell Angell chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, engage in war work activities to assist the Allied cause during World War I, 1918. During their sessions, they knit, make hospital garments, sew for French children, and make aviators' vests.
Advertisement
13
Paul Thompson/FPG/Getty Images
A woman machine operator working with a cutting tool at an aircraft factory during World War 1.
14
Paul Thompson/FPG/Getty Images
Working women aiding the war effort in World War One; Agnes Kelley, Blanche Chegnon, Marie Provencher, Nina Hosington and Mary Tully, all from Lowell, Massachusetts, 1917.
15
FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
A woman working in an American aircraft factory, 1917.
Advertisement
16
FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
'Farmerettes' help collect funds to supply milk for babies in France during World War I, circa 1918. From left to right, Mable Standley, Helen Gates, Mary Kelly, Anna Robinson, Lottie Vernon and Florence Martin.
17
Bain News Service/Buyenlarge/Getty Images
A member of the Women's Land Army of America plows a field, with a plow drawn by two horses, California, 1917.
18
Vintage Images/ Getty Images
Women out picking cotton, USA, circa 1910.
Advertisement
19
Bain News Service/Buyenlarge/Getty Images
Students at Barnard College participate in a botany class at the college's greenhouse, ca 1915.
Related
Before You Go
